turned into a political issue. It would seem to us that drugs, which know no social barriers, could be an area of general cooperation including the politicians. There is no easy solution for Bermuda to the problems created by drugs, both legal and illegal drugs, and there has not been an easy solution for any other country.

We hoped at one time that Bermuda would be united in the fight against drugs and that, we know, was the hope of Dr. David Archibald when he studied the problem. Given the magnitude of the drug problem, it seemed a small thing to ask that politicians should unite against the scourge. The PLP was unwilling.

The Progressive Labour Party did not understand that this was an area where it would be more constructive to cooperate than to oppose. Used to objecting to everything the Government does or says, the PLP forgot that a good Opposition can cooperate to the national good. The PLP did not take part in the strategy team which resulted in the National Drugs Commission. It did, when it realised it was making a bad mistake, produce some suggestions for appointments to the Interim Steering Committee which moved towards the National Drugs Commission.

What the PLP did not do was produce a drugs strategy report of its own which it had promised the Country. When the PLP was criticised for not taking part in Dr. David Archibald's Drugs Strategy Team, it quickly said it would produce its own report. This newspaper understands that the PLP did produce a report of sorts but it was so poor in comparison that it was never released to the public.

Not to cooperate from the beginning on something so important to the whole Country as drug abuse was shame enough on the PLP but that was doubled by the failure to produce a promised report. The PLP cannot hide from that by criticising what Government is getting done. The PLP did not help and it did not produce. It's really a classic case of "put up or shut up''.

Despite its failure and its lack of help, the leader of the PLP was bold enough to say to the House of Assembly on Friday, "As a party we have been prepared to start a real war on drugs and developing a strategy that will deal efficiently with the problems that drugs cause in the community.'' The record does not show anything which supports that statement.

This newspaper agrees with Sir John Sharpe who told the House, "I think we all accept that the abuse of drugs and alcohol is certainly a killer. But worse than that it decimates whole families and has the capacity to decimate the whole community. That is why it is important that we pool our resources to tackle this very difficult problem.''